Duplantis Goal Lifts IceGators over Surge
March 3, 2013 - SPHL (SPHL)
Louisiana IceGators News Release
Lafayette, Louisiana--Josh Duplantis's second goal of the year might be the biggest goal he has ever scored. Duplantis scored the game winner off a B. J. O'Brien rebound at the 13:06 mark of the second period to give the Louisiana IceGators a 2-1 victory over the Mississippi Surge. Greg Brown and Shawn McNeil picked up assists on the goal.
The victory gives the IceGators a final home record of 21-5-2. The first-place IceGators advance to 31-12-5 and 67 points on the season. That gives them a four-point lead over the Fayetteville FireAntz and a seven-point edge over the Pensacola IceFlyers.
"It was an awesome 60 minutes," said IceGators coach Kevin Kaminski. "The boys did a lot of things well. It all started with a stingy defense. Our special teams were awesome. We scored on a powerplay and stopped all six of theirs. We were, physical, won a lot of one-on-one battles, and were strong on the net front. The want, will, and care factor was at another level tonight."
The defense was stingy indeed, allowing only 21 Mississippi shots. The IceGators stopped another 20 before they got to the goal by blocking and deflecting shots away from the net.
Marc-André Carré opened the scoring at the 16:15 mark with a backdoor powerplay goal. O'Brien initially saved a Troy Ofukany shot, but Carré grabbed the rebound and place the puck behind O'Brien and into the net. Ofukany and Kevin Brojek were credited with assists.
The Surge responded 70 seconds later. Kyle Kudroch fired a shot into traffic and put it past Breton Lindoff's shoulder to tie the contest. Jarkko Leppanen and Adam Stuart assisted on the play.
The Duplantis goal was almost a mirror image of Carré's. Duplantis was behind the play and able to catch the rebound from Brown's shot before firing into an open net on O'Brien's backside.
Kaminski says he is very pleased that Duplantis is finally finding his stride.
"Whenever someone leaves or gets injured, somebody steps up," Kaminski said. "Josh is doing that now, and it couldn't be a better time for him to do it. It's good to see him start scoring, because he should be scoring ten goals a year."
The IceGators play their final eight games of the regular season on the road. The stretch begins Thursday night when the IceGators travel to Augusta to take on the last-place RiverHawks. Kaminski says it will be business as usual."
"The guys have been resilient all year," Kaminski said. "These are just eight more hockey games. We have to do what we've been doing all season and continue to play our brand of hockey."
"The only thing better than winning at home is winning on the road," he continued. "It's always a good feeling to steal two points in another team's barn. We need to go at least .500 down the stretch in order to maintain our position."
SPHL Stories from March 3, 2013
- Duplantis Goal Lifts IceGators over Surge - Louisiana IceGators
- Tired Surge Fall to Louisiana - Mississippi Surge
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